Dr. Jean Ristaino was principal investigator and Dr. Linda Hanley-Bowdoin was co-principal investigator for the recent collaborative conference “Emerging Infectious Plant Diseases of Africa in the Context of Ecosystem Services.” The international conference took place April 8 to 12 at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy. Attending were 19 participants who worked to develop a strategy to mitigate impacts of emerging plant diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ristaino and Hanley-Bowdoin are faculty members in N.C. State University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Ristaino is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the CALS Department of Plant Pathology. Hanley-Bowdoin is a William Neal Reynolds Professor of biochemistry in the Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry.